Nobody Knows the Day or Hour —
But You Better Know the Season

God withholds the exact moment. He commands us to read the signs. Ignorance of the season is not humility — it is disobedience.

WALKING BY FAITH  |  WATCHMAN SERIES

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”MATTHEW 24:36

Most people stop right there. They quote Matthew 24:36, fold their arms, and consider the matter settled: Nobody knows. Don’t even try. Move along. And on the surface, they are not wrong — no man, no prophet, no preacher, no algorithm will ever name the day or the hour of Christ’s return or of final judgment. That knowledge belongs to the Father alone.

But here is what those same people almost never quote — the very words Jesus spoke just minutes later in the same sermon, to the same disciples, on the same Mount of Olives:

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”Matthew 24:32–33

Jesus did not say: “Don’t try to understand the timing.” He said: “Learn the lesson.” He gave a command — an imperative — to read the signs. The man who throws up his hands and says “no one can know anything” about the end times has not honored Matthew 24:36. He has ignoredMatthew 24:32–33. He has taken half of what Jesus said and discarded the other half.

God withholds the exact moment. He commands you to know the season. Both are true. Both are binding. Praise Jesus.

✦

I. The Distinction Jesus Himself Made

There is a meaningful difference between a date and a season. A farmer does not know the exact day the first freeze will come — but he knows it is coming, he watches the signs, and he acts accordingly. A woman does not know the exact hour her baby will be born — but she knows the season, she prepares, and she is not caught off guard when the labor begins.

Jesus used this exact kind of language deliberately. He was not being evasive. He was being precise. He was distinguishing between two different kinds of knowledge:

The knowledge of the exact moment — reserved for the Father alone.
The knowledge of the season — commanded for every disciple.

The Apostle Paul makes this same distinction with unmistakable clarity:

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”1 Thessalonians 5:4–5

Paul is not writing to people who know the day and the hour. He is writing to people who are awake enough not to be surprised. That is what “not in darkness” means. The thief metaphor cuts both ways: yes, no one knows the exact hour the thief comes — but a man who is watching, who has seen the neighborhood signs of danger, who has stayed awake, is far less likely to be caught off guard than the man who said “It could be anytime, so why bother watching at all?”

✦

II. The Fig Tree and What It Demands of Us

THE PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE

Matthew 24:32–33 — “Learn this lesson”

When a fig tree’s branches become tender and leaves begin to appear, every farmer in first-century Judea knew what it meant: summer is approaching. Not “summer is here.” Not the exact date of the first summer day. But the season — close, unmistakable, demanding preparation.

Jesus applied this directly to the signs He had just listed — wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines, earthquakes, persecution of believers, the gospel preached to all nations, the abomination of desolation. He said: when you see these things converging, you know the season has arrived. It is near. Right at the door.

The word “near” in Matthew 24:33 is the Greek eggys — meaning close, at hand, imminent. This is not vague. It is directional and urgent. The fig tree does not put out leaves to confuse you. It puts out leaves to inform you. Jesus said: learn the lesson.

If a farmer saw his fig tree in full leaf and shrugged and said, “Well, I can’t know the exact date summer arrives, so I won’t do any planting,” his neighbors would rightfully call him a fool. Yet this is precisely the posture of much of the modern Church toward the signs Jesus commanded us to read.

Willful ignorance of the season is not spiritual humility. It is a failure of stewardship.

✦

III. The Signs Jesus Said to Watch For

The Olivet Discourse — Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 — is the most detailed prophetic teaching Jesus ever gave His disciples. He was not meandering. He was answering a specific question: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). His answer was a list. And He told us to watch it.

Sign 01

Deception in the Name of Christ

“Many will come in my name, claiming ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” False teaching, prosperity gospels, and counterfeit revivals multiplying within the Church. (Matt. 24:5)

Sign 02

Wars and Rumors of Wars

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Armed conflict between great powers, proxy wars, and the constant threat of larger escalation. (Matt. 24:6–7)

Sign 03

Famines and Earthquakes

“There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Global food insecurity, seismic activity, and environmental disruption in diverse and simultaneous locations. (Matt. 24:7)

Sign 04

Persecution of Believers

“You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death.” The global persecution of Christians is at historic levels — more martyrs in the last century than all previous centuries combined. (Matt. 24:9)

Sign 05

Widespread Apostasy

“Many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.” A falling away within the visible church — love growing cold, truth abandoned, the gospel replaced. (Matt. 24:10–12)

Sign 06

The Gospel to All Nations

“This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The Great Commission nearing completion through technology and mission. (Matt. 24:14)

These are not isolated events scattered across millennia. They are a convergence. Jesus described them as birth pangs (Matthew 24:8) — pains that increase in frequency and intensity as the moment approaches. Anyone who has witnessed a birth knows: as the contractions come faster and harder, you do not say, “I cannot know when the baby will arrive, so I refuse to prepare.” You say: It is time.

✦

IV. The Rebuke Jesus Already Gave

This is not a new problem. In His earthly ministry, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees not for claiming to know the day or hour — but for their deliberate refusal to read what was plainly in front of them:

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”— Matthew 16:3

They were not ignorant men. They were experts in Torah. They could read weather patterns. They could recite prophecy. But they refused to apply what they knew to what God was doing in their moment. Jesus called this hypocrisy (Matthew 16:3). He was grieved and amazed at their hardness of heart (Mark 8:12).

The same rebuke applies today to every believer who reads Matthew 24:36 as a permission slip for prophetic passivity. Reading the signs of the times is not date-setting. It is obedience. It is what Jesus commanded.

✦

V. What “Knowing the Season” Requires of Us

Understanding the season is not merely intellectual. It has teeth. It demands something from those who see it clearly.

It demands urgency in the gospel

A man who genuinely believes the season of the Lord’s return is upon him does not treat evangelism as optional or awkward. He does not have time for that. The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). Every conversation is an opportunity. Every day is a gift of God’s patience toward the lost (2 Peter 3:9).

It demands holiness in conduct

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God.”2 Peter 3:11–12

Peter does not say: “Since you can’t know when, live however you want.” He says: knowing this season is upon us should make us more holy, not less. The man who is expecting the Master’s return does not neglect his post (Luke 12:43).

It demands readiness, not fear

The signs are not given to terrify the Church. They are given to orient the Church. The believer who understands the season does not live in dread — he lives with his lamp trimmed and his oil full (Matthew 25:1–13). The darkness that falls on the world in the last days is the same darkness that makes the light of the Church more visible, not less.

It demands that we lift our heads

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”Luke 21:28

When the birth pangs intensify — when the nations rage and the foundations shake — Jesus does not tell His people to cower. He says: lift your heads. The signs that are causing the world to despair are the same signs that are telling the Church: your King is coming.

✦

VI. A Word to Those Who Use Matthew 24:36 to Silence Watchmen

There is a weaponized use of “no one knows the day or hour” that has become common in the modern Church. It is deployed not to correct genuine date-setting error — which would be legitimate — but to shut down any prophetic awareness of the times. Any discussion of signs, convergence, or urgency gets silenced with a verse taken out of context.

This is not faithfulness to Scripture. It is selective reading. The man who quotes Matthew 24:36 to you without also quoting Matthew 24:32–33, Luke 21:28, and 1 Thessalonians 5:4–5 has not given you the full counsel of God. He has given you half a verse in service of spiritual complacency.

The watchman’s job is not to name the day. It is to blow the trumpet when the enemy is approaching. A watchman who sees the army on the horizon and says nothing — because he cannot know the exact hour of the battle — has failed his entire city. (Ezekiel 33:6)

The Church needs watchmen. Not men who manufacture timelines from speculation. But men and women who are in the Word, in prayer, awake to the world, and willing to say plainly: The season is upon us. Prepare yourselves. The King is coming.

✦

The Season Is Now

You cannot know the day. You cannot know the hour. God has made that clear and we submit to it fully. But the fig tree is in full leaf. The birth pangs are intensifying. The signs Jesus described are not approaching on the horizon — many of them are already here, multiplying, converging.

The proper response is not a shrug. It is a posture — eyes open, lamp trimmed, knees bent, mouth ready. Live urgently. Love sacrificially. Preach boldly. Watch prayerfully. And when the darkness deepens, lift your head.

Your redemption is drawing near.

To God be the Glory — and Hallelujah, what a day that will be.Praise Jesus  •  Maranatha — Come, Lord Jesus

PROPHETIC SIGNS OF THE TIMES MATTHEW

Matthew 24  •  Luke 21  •  1 Thessalonians 5

Nobody Knows the Day or Hour —
But You Better Know the Season

God withholds the exact moment. He commands us to read the signs. Ignorance of the season is not humility — it is disobedience.

WALKING BY FAITH  |  WATCHMAN SERIES

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”MATTHEW 24:36

Most people stop right there. They quote Matthew 24:36, fold their arms, and consider the matter settled: Nobody knows. Don’t even try. Move along. And on the surface, they are not wrong — no man, no prophet, no preacher, no algorithm will ever name the day or the hour of Christ’s return or of final judgment. That knowledge belongs to the Father alone.

But here is what those same people almost never quote — the very words Jesus spoke just minutes later in the same sermon, to the same disciples, on the same Mount of Olives:

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”Matthew 24:32–33

Jesus did not say: “Don’t try to understand the timing.” He said: “Learn the lesson.” He gave a command — an imperative — to read the signs. The man who throws up his hands and says “no one can know anything” about the end times has not honored Matthew 24:36. He has ignoredMatthew 24:32–33. He has taken half of what Jesus said and discarded the other half.

God withholds the exact moment. He commands you to know the season. Both are true. Both are binding. Praise Jesus.

✦

I. The Distinction Jesus Himself Made

There is a meaningful difference between a date and a season. A farmer does not know the exact day the first freeze will come — but he knows it is coming, he watches the signs, and he acts accordingly. A woman does not know the exact hour her baby will be born — but she knows the season, she prepares, and she is not caught off guard when the labor begins.

Jesus used this exact kind of language deliberately. He was not being evasive. He was being precise. He was distinguishing between two different kinds of knowledge:

The knowledge of the exact moment — reserved for the Father alone.
The knowledge of the season — commanded for every disciple.

The Apostle Paul makes this same distinction with unmistakable clarity:

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”1 Thessalonians 5:4–5

Paul is not writing to people who know the day and the hour. He is writing to people who are awake enough not to be surprised. That is what “not in darkness” means. The thief metaphor cuts both ways: yes, no one knows the exact hour the thief comes — but a man who is watching, who has seen the neighborhood signs of danger, who has stayed awake, is far less likely to be caught off guard than the man who said “It could be anytime, so why bother watching at all?”

✦

II. The Fig Tree and What It Demands of Us

THE PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE

Matthew 24:32–33 — “Learn this lesson”

When a fig tree’s branches become tender and leaves begin to appear, every farmer in first-century Judea knew what it meant: summer is approaching. Not “summer is here.” Not the exact date of the first summer day. But the season — close, unmistakable, demanding preparation.

Jesus applied this directly to the signs He had just listed — wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines, earthquakes, persecution of believers, the gospel preached to all nations, the abomination of desolation. He said: when you see these things converging, you know the season has arrived. It is near. Right at the door.

The word “near” in Matthew 24:33 is the Greek eggys — meaning close, at hand, imminent. This is not vague. It is directional and urgent. The fig tree does not put out leaves to confuse you. It puts out leaves to inform you. Jesus said: learn the lesson.

If a farmer saw his fig tree in full leaf and shrugged and said, “Well, I can’t know the exact date summer arrives, so I won’t do any planting,” his neighbors would rightfully call him a fool. Yet this is precisely the posture of much of the modern Church toward the signs Jesus commanded us to read.

Willful ignorance of the season is not spiritual humility. It is a failure of stewardship.

✦

III. The Signs Jesus Said to Watch For

The Olivet Discourse — Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 — is the most detailed prophetic teaching Jesus ever gave His disciples. He was not meandering. He was answering a specific question: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). His answer was a list. And He told us to watch it.

Sign 01

Deception in the Name of Christ

“Many will come in my name, claiming ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” False teaching, prosperity gospels, and counterfeit revivals multiplying within the Church. (Matt. 24:5)

Sign 02

Wars and Rumors of Wars

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Armed conflict between great powers, proxy wars, and the constant threat of larger escalation. (Matt. 24:6–7)

Sign 03

Famines and Earthquakes

“There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Global food insecurity, seismic activity, and environmental disruption in diverse and simultaneous locations. (Matt. 24:7)

Sign 04

Persecution of Believers

“You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death.” The global persecution of Christians is at historic levels — more martyrs in the last century than all previous centuries combined. (Matt. 24:9)

Sign 05

Widespread Apostasy

“Many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.” A falling away within the visible church — love growing cold, truth abandoned, the gospel replaced. (Matt. 24:10–12)

Sign 06

The Gospel to All Nations

“This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The Great Commission nearing completion through technology and mission. (Matt. 24:14)

These are not isolated events scattered across millennia. They are a convergence. Jesus described them as birth pangs (Matthew 24:8) — pains that increase in frequency and intensity as the moment approaches. Anyone who has witnessed a birth knows: as the contractions come faster and harder, you do not say, “I cannot know when the baby will arrive, so I refuse to prepare.” You say: It is time.

✦

IV. The Rebuke Jesus Already Gave

This is not a new problem. In His earthly ministry, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees not for claiming to know the day or hour — but for their deliberate refusal to read what was plainly in front of them:

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”— Matthew 16:3

They were not ignorant men. They were experts in Torah. They could read weather patterns. They could recite prophecy. But they refused to apply what they knew to what God was doing in their moment. Jesus called this hypocrisy (Matthew 16:3). He was grieved and amazed at their hardness of heart (Mark 8:12).

The same rebuke applies today to every believer who reads Matthew 24:36 as a permission slip for prophetic passivity. Reading the signs of the times is not date-setting. It is obedience. It is what Jesus commanded.

✦

V. What “Knowing the Season” Requires of Us

Understanding the season is not merely intellectual. It has teeth. It demands something from those who see it clearly.

It demands urgency in the gospel

A man who genuinely believes the season of the Lord’s return is upon him does not treat evangelism as optional or awkward. He does not have time for that. The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37). Every conversation is an opportunity. Every day is a gift of God’s patience toward the lost (2 Peter 3:9).

It demands holiness in conduct

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God.”2 Peter 3:11–12

Peter does not say: “Since you can’t know when, live however you want.” He says: knowing this season is upon us should make us more holy, not less. The man who is expecting the Master’s return does not neglect his post (Luke 12:43).

It demands readiness, not fear

The signs are not given to terrify the Church. They are given to orient the Church. The believer who understands the season does not live in dread — he lives with his lamp trimmed and his oil full (Matthew 25:1–13). The darkness that falls on the world in the last days is the same darkness that makes the light of the Church more visible, not less.

It demands that we lift our heads

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”Luke 21:28

When the birth pangs intensify — when the nations rage and the foundations shake — Jesus does not tell His people to cower. He says: lift your heads. The signs that are causing the world to despair are the same signs that are telling the Church: your King is coming.

✦

VI. A Word to Those Who Use Matthew 24:36 to Silence Watchmen

There is a weaponized use of “no one knows the day or hour” that has become common in the modern Church. It is deployed not to correct genuine date-setting error — which would be legitimate — but to shut down any prophetic awareness of the times. Any discussion of signs, convergence, or urgency gets silenced with a verse taken out of context.

This is not faithfulness to Scripture. It is selective reading. The man who quotes Matthew 24:36 to you without also quoting Matthew 24:32–33, Luke 21:28, and 1 Thessalonians 5:4–5 has not given you the full counsel of God. He has given you half a verse in service of spiritual complacency.

The watchman’s job is not to name the day. It is to blow the trumpet when the enemy is approaching. A watchman who sees the army on the horizon and says nothing — because he cannot know the exact hour of the battle — has failed his entire city. (Ezekiel 33:6)

The Church needs watchmen. Not men who manufacture timelines from speculation. But men and women who are in the Word, in prayer, awake to the world, and willing to say plainly: The season is upon us. Prepare yourselves. The King is coming.

✦

The Season Is Now

You cannot know the day. You cannot know the hour. God has made that clear and we submit to it fully. But the fig tree is in full leaf. The birth pangs are intensifying. The signs Jesus described are not approaching on the horizon — many of them are already here, multiplying, converging.

The proper response is not a shrug. It is a posture — eyes open, lamp trimmed, knees bent, mouth ready. Live urgently. Love sacrificially. Preach boldly. Watch prayerfully. And when the darkness deepens, lift your head.

Your redemption is drawing near.

To God be the Glory — and Hallelujah, what a day that will be.Praise Jesus  •  Maranatha — Come, Lord Jesus

T

PROPHETIC-SIGNS OF THE Times Matthew 2 211 THESSALONIANS 5 FIG TREE-SECOND COMING

211 THESSALONIANS 5FIG TREESECOND COMING